Chromatographic and solid phase extractive separation of analytes are conducted by contacting mixtures of analyte solutions with solid materials also known as bonded phases/sorbent. Adsorption/desorption (partitions) of analytes on bonded phase leads to the separation of mixtures. (Practical HPLC Method Development, L. R. Snyder, J. J. Kirkland, and J. L. Glajch, John Wiley and Sons, 1997; Solid Phase Extraction for Sample Preparation, M. Zief, and R. Kisel, J. T. Baker, Phillipsburg, N.J., 1988). The publications and other materials used herein to illuminate the background of the invention or provide additional details respecting the practice, are incorporated by reference, and for convenience are respectively grouped in the appended List of References. Supports are modified to impart the properties that enable separation by various mechanisms such as reversed phase and ion exchange. It is known to make reversed phase bonded phases using silica particles. Due to several drawbacks associated with silica such as instability at acidic and basic conditions, polymers are being considered. Some of the difficulties associated with crosslinked copolymer resins include swelling in the solvents and reduced mechanical strength (F. Nevejam, and M. Verzele, J. Chromatography 350:145 (1985)). Accordingly, it is often necessary to employ highly crosslinked but porous polymer particles in which adsorption sites are accessible to analytes. Necessary selectivity of nonfunctional polymer phases is achieved by varying solvents that make up the mobile phase while silica based bonded phases are modified with a combination of polar and nonpolar characteristics that provide desired selectivity. Therefore, proper functionalized polymeric materials and methods to use these are needed that can lead to desired selectivity and separation capability.
It is well known in the prior art to use crosslinked copolymers of monovinylidene and polyvinylidene monomers to produce functionalized polymers. For example, conversion of such polymers to ion exchange resin by sulfonation is described in U.S. Pat. No. 2,366,067. In performing these functionalizations, the polymer backbone is reacted and thus changes properties of those beads that become hydrophilic, making them susceptible to cracking or shattering. In addition, controlled functionalization through a bulk reaction such as sulfonation is difficult. Conversion of hydrophobic to hydrophilic chromatographic media is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,030,352. These chromatographic media are obtained by applying various thin hydrophilic coatings to the surface of hydrophobic polymer substrates (e.g., polystyrene-DVB). The process includes adsorption of solute having hydrophobic and hydrophilic domains on the substrate by hydrophobic—hydrophobic interactions with the hydrophilic domain extending outwardly away from the surface. The molecules are then crosslinked in place. These coating materials may further be derivatized to produce various materials useful in separations. Such coating is limited to a thin film on the surface of the hydrophobic support and thus capacity is limited. Also, hydrophobicity of the support is diminished and may not be sufficient to adsorb hydrophobic analytes. Meitzner and Oline in U.S. Pat. No. 4,297,220 disclose microreticulated copolymers formed by copolymerization of monoethylenically unsaturated monomers and polyvinylidene monomers in the presence of certain compounds to obtain a specific void volume and surface area that is used for absorbing an organic material from a fluid mixture containing organic materials. Bouvier et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 5,882,521 disclose a method for removing an organic solute from a solution using a water wettable copolymer of hydrophilic and hydrophobic monomers having 12-30 mole percent of hydrophilic monomer.